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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Glacier National Park records busiest year

Autumn is one of the best times to visit Glacier Natural Park. Crowds are down, and you get access to some of the most beautiful fall foliage around and very much worth the drive east from the Inland Northwest. (Donnie Sexton  / Montana Office of Tourism)
Autumn is one of the best times to visit Glacier Natural Park. Crowds are down, and you get access to some of the most beautiful fall foliage around and very much worth the drive east from the Inland Northwest. (Donnie Sexton / Montana Office of Tourism)

PARKS -- Glacier National Park’s Centennial year has become its busiest.

Even though November’s visitor count was down 14 percent compared to the same time last year, the 13,000 visitors last month were enough to push this year’s total visitation past the 1983 record year, according to the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell.

From January through November, 2,216,019 people entered Glacier. That’s nearly 10 percent more than the number of visitors during the same period last year and exceeds the 1983 record of 2,203,847 visitors.

Park spokeswoman Amy Vanderbilt says relatively affordable gas prices and strong interest in national parks among regional travelers boosted Glacier’s numbers this year.



Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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